Sports Page 6
www.brandingirononline.info
Friday, September 30, 2011
Puck drops for UW hockey this weekend Mike Dunn
MDUNN8@UWYO.EDU
As Wyoming’s short fall season soon turns to winter, there are two things on a few individuals’ minds— Extremely cold weather and hockey. UW’s men’s club hockey team will begin their season this Friday with their annual Alumni Game. This season the team will adapt a newer gameplay and have a faster team than seasons before. This is partly because of the Cowboy’s new head coach Eric Wood. “Our biggest thing this year is that we’re going to play a physical game and have great work ethic,” Wood said. With a large portion of the team returning to the roster, Cowboy hockey is not without its losses. Two starting defensemen, Rick Comer
and Tyler Yorke, along with their goalie Rob Kola will not be returning this year. However, Wood will demand higher expectations from his returners. “The guys who didn’t have that leadership role last year are going to have step up this year," Wood said. “They are going to have to progress right away.” The Cowboys went 9–9 with two overtime losses last year. Finding little solace in that record, the Pokes plan on playing with more organization this year. “We plan on playing with more structure,” Wood said. “We’re going to try something new this year. That’s one of the things I wanted to make sure the kids knew what they were getting into this year with me.” The Cowboy hockey team will begin play Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Laramie Ice & Events Center in the Annual Alumni Game. Their regular season starts 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 at EPIC, Ft. Collins, Colo.